Blade dispensers



H. G. TREISS BLADE DISPENSERS Filed March 16. 1953 April 22 1958- 27 l E' 3f INVENTOR. HERMAN G. TRE/SS 27 .if 'o ilnited States Ratent BLADE DISPENSERS Herman G. rEreiss, Riverdale, N. Y., assigner to A. S. R. Products Corporation, a corporation of Virginia Application March 16, 1953, Serial No. 342,361

3 Claims. (Cl. 221-33) This invention relates to razor blade magazines and particularly to magazines for storing razor blades until such blades are to be used. Such magazines are particularly adapted for storing double-edge or wafer-type razor blades. j

Heretofore, it has been essential in such magazines to maintain the blade to be ejected substantially at the same level as the exit mouth of the magazine. This was accomplished by having a spring urge the blades up to a position on substantially the same level as the level of the exit mouth and providing a pusher behind the blade to push out the blade. Because of the thinness of a blade, such a magazine required precision between the cooperating parts and a rather expensive process of tooling to attain this precision. Such magazines had to be either factory loaded or discarded after use. Also, the force of the spring on the blades made the two blades cohere to each other because of frictional contact. This resulted in jamming of the pusher or other moving parts and injury to the shaving edges of the blades.

The present invention eliminates these defects and provides a dispenser which retains a plurality of blades without the use of springs and a pusher, and which prevents jamming of the moving parts. It provides a magazine which costs less to manufacture and which may be retained and reloaded by the user Without the use of special tools or skill.

This is primarily accomplished by providing a platform upon which the blades are stacked and which may be inserted into a casing. The blades may be removed from the casing as by the action of the users nger on the flat part of the blade. A ramp may be provided which connects the platform with the exit mouth of the magazine and which acts as a cam to bend the blade upwardly and project it toward the exit mouth. Holding means may be provided on the platform to cooperate with means on the casing toprevent the platform from slipping out of the casing and to keep it rigidly in the casing.

In the accompanying drawing which shows a preferred embodiment of the several features of the invention:

Fig. l is an exploded View of the dispenser parts and of the blade to be dispensed thereby;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the blade stacking platform before assembly with the casing;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the platform of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational View looking at the casing front;

Fig. 5 is a front elevational view looking at the casing front with the platform in operative position;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section vertically taken of the casing portion of the dispenser;

Fig. 7 is a section taken on line 7 7 of Fig. 9;

Fig. 8 is a transverse longitudinal section line 8 8 of Fig. 7 taken of the dispenser after the parts have been assembled;

Fig. 9 is a section of the detail taken on line 9--9 of Fig. 7.

. 2,831,601 PatentedrApr. 22, 1958 ice Referring now to the drawings, the magazine desirably therewithin. These parts are preferably molded from plastic or made of any equivalent material which yields slightly to pressure.

The platform P is at for its major length as show at 19 and ramp 11 extends forwardly and upwardly from one `end thereof. The platform is slotted inwardly from its rear edge as shown at 15 so that the rear end portion of the platform is comprised of the relatively narrow rearwardly extending rear corner iingers 16 in spaced apart lateral relation to opposite sides of intermediate section17. Lugs 19 extend outwardly and oppositely from the rearmost free ends of lingers 16 and laterally beyond the opposed tapered side edges 20 of the platform.

Lugs 21 project upwardly from the rear corner portions of intermediate section 17 substantially adjacent to slots 1S and in transverse spaced apart relation. Rib 25 extends upwardly from and longitudinally centrally of the platform and is located toward the front end thereof and spaced slightly to the rear of ramp 11. Rib 25 terminates at its front end in vertical end wall 23 and at its rear end in the upwardly inclined end wall section. 24 which merges into top wall section 24. Projecting downwardly from the under surface of intermediate section 17 at the platform rear, is lug 26 shown in Fig. 3 as U-shaped and dimensioned so that its legs underlie upwardly directed lugs 21. A pair of lugs 27 extend downwardly from the front half of the platform and are shown in the drawings as longitudinally extended andclosely adjacent to the platform side edges 20. j

Ramp 11 inclines gradually upwardly to a level above the top of lugs 21 and the rib 25 and has a wall 29 extending vertically downwardly from its top. Wall 29 terminates at its lower free end at a level slightly below the lowermost portion of downwardly directed lugs 26 and 27' and is wider than ramp 11 so that its end portions 29 project laterally beyond ramp 11 to both sides thereof.

The blade B to be serviced is of the flexible doubleedged type illustrated in the drawings as having corner cutaways 51 and slotted longitudinallyl centrally thereof as shown at 52, the slot 52 terminating short of both ends of the blade to leave unslotted end portions 53.

Blades may be stacked dat on platform section 10 with lugs 21 in rear corner cut-outs 51 to prevent rearward movement and rib 2S extending into blade slots 52 to prevent lateral displacement, the dimensions and relation of the parts being such that the upright end wall 23 of rib 25 will be closely adjacent to the front end of slot 52 and the unslotted front blade end 53 will be seated tlat in the space between rib 25 and ramp 11.

The outer casing C is comprised of a top wall 30, a bottom wall 31, a rear wall 32, side walls 33, and a front open end 47. Access opening 3S is provided in the top wall. This access opening is defined at its sides by downwardly extending flanges 37, at its front by the forwardly converging edge portions 38 forming the apex 38a, and

at its rear by the front edge of the platform lregion 42 of the casing top which is shown as levelled to and of a thickness approximately equal to the height of the flanges.

tion 24 of the rib 25 on Opposite sides thereof (Fig. 7).y

The bottom wall 31 of the casing is cut away inwardly from its front edge to provide bottom opening 45 (Figs. 1

3 and 6), the transverse edge of the cutaway being rounded olf or beveled as shown.

The casing has each of its opposite rear corners cut away intermediate of its height to provide openings 46 which are dimensioned and located to receive lugs 19 at the end of ngers 16 when the platform is entered into the container.

The distance between the opposite ends of the lugs 19 on fingers 16 of the platform P is greater than the distance between the rear side walls 33 of the casing C and, therefore, when the platform is inserted into the casing the lugs 19 will spring into the openings i6 and hold the platform in the casing. The lugs 26 and 27 hold the platform P spaced from the floor 31 of the casing while the lugs 21 keep the platform spaced from the top of the casing and define an upper chamber for stacking blades and a lower chamber for storing used blades. The distance betweenV the bottom of lug 26 and the top of lugs 21 is substantially equal to the distance between the bottom wall 31 and the top wall 30 to keep the platform in frictional engagement with the casing.

When the platform is in the casing, the extensions 29' of the vertical wall 29 will abut against the front of the sides 33 and the bottom of wall 29 will abut against the bottom wall 31 of the casing thereby closing the front end of the casing C. The front of top wall 3i) of the casing and the top of vertical wall 29 define a space 4S which is the exit mouth of the dispenser.

The operation of my invention is as follows: the blades B 'are Vstacked on the platform P with the rib 25 of the platform extending into the central slots 52 of the blades B, the cut away corners 51 of the blade B abutting against the lugs 21, and the rear and front portion 53 of the blade lying at on the platform P. The platform P is then inesrted into the casing C through the front open end 47. The lugs 19 on fingers 16 of the platform P will strike the side walls 33 of the casing and, being exible, will be squeezed toward each other until they spring into the openings 46 in the rear of the sides 33 of the casing. This will keep the platform from slipping out of the casing C. The lugs 26 and 27 rest on the door 31 of the casing to keep the platform in raised position and the top of lugs 21 and bottom of lug 26 will be in frictional engagement With the top and bottom walls 30 and 31 of the casing.

When a blade is to be dispensed from the container, the linger is slid along the top of the region 42 and is inserted into the access opening 35 and advances the top blade in the direction of mouth 48 to cause the front end of the blade B to engage the inclined ramp i1 and be directed upwardly and out through the mouth 4S as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7. This advance is continued until the finger of the user engages the apex 38a of the access opening 35 and the rear unslotted portion S3 of the blade B engages with the beveled end 24 of rib 2S which raises the blade by the camming action of the beveled end 24; the blade will then be held by the mouth 48 and will be free to be grasped by the user or to be inserted in a razor. When a blade is advanced through the exit mouth, the central part of its rear unslotted portion 53 will ride upwardly on incline 24 of rib 2S and onto its top 24', while its side portions 54 are held in abutting relation to the underfaces of side flanges 37 (see Fig. 9). The depth of the flanges 37 extends below the top portion 24 of the rib 25 and thereby the rear unslotted portion 53 of the blade will be flexed transversely of the long dimen sion yof the blade, as shown in Fig. 9.

The blade next below the blade being ejected will not be inadvertently ejected by a cohesive action because the blades are stacked lightly one on the other with no force present to make the two cohere. Since there is not as much force applied by the user on a lower blade as there isk ou the blade being ejected, the ramp 1li will not cam the blade upwardly and will be an'effective stop for any lower blade that may be pushed with the top blade,

The above process is repeated until all the blades stacked on the platform P have been exhausted. ln order to refill the platform, it must be taken out of the casing C. This is accomplished by squeezing together the lugs 19 of the fingers 16 and simultaneously urging the platform out of the casing until the lugs 19 are out of the opening 46 and abutting against the inside of side walls 33. The platform may then be easily slipped out of the casing C, reiilled by hand, and reinserted into the casing.

In order to facilitate the insertion and removal of the platform P within the casing C, the side walls 33 of the casing may be tapered outwardly toward the front open end 47, and the top wall 3G and bottom wall 31 may be tapered outwardly toward the open end 47. This will allow the lugs 19 and lugs 21-26 to engage the sides and bottom walls of the casing, respectively, at the rear end thereof, and will permit the platform to be easily removed and inserted into the casing.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the details of construction described above or shown in the drawings, except as appears hereafter in the claims.

I claim:

l. For use with a blade having a central slot and at least one unslotted end portion, a dispenser having a blade exit mouth at its front Wall comprising a casing having outwardly and forwardly tapering side walls and outwardly and forwardly tapering top and bottom walls, an access opening in the top wall of the casing and terminating short of the front wall of the casing, flanges extending downwardly from the top wall of the casing on each side of the access opening, said flanges extending forwardly beyond the point where the access slot terminates, a platform for stacking blades within said casing having outwardly and forwardly tapering sides, a central rib on the platform to extend through blades stacked on the platform, said central rib extending upwardly beyond the underside of the flanges, the front end of the central rib terminating short of the front end of said flanges, an elevating ramp mounted on the platform and extending upwardly to the lower wall of the lade exit mouth, said ramp being located forwardly and spaced from the central rib a distance at least equal to the width of the unslotted portion of the blade, downwardly and upwardly extending projections on the platform to hold the platform spaced from the top and bottom walls of the casing thereby forming a new blade chamber and a used blade chamber respectively, the distance between the top of the upwardly extending projections and the bottom of the downwardly extending projection being equal to the distance between the under surface of the top wall of the casing and the upper surface of the bottom wall of the casing to provide a friction tight engagement between the casing and the platform, an opening in the bottom wall of the casing communicating with the used blade chamber to define a mouth for used blades, openings in the side walls at the rear end of the casing, the platform being slotted at its rear inwardly from its rear edge adjacent opposite sides thereof to provide an intermediate section and yieldable fingers spaced from the intermediate section, outwardly extending lugs being provided on said lingers to enter the slots in the side walls of the casing.

2. A casing having an open front end, and a platform receivable therewithin, slots in the side walls of the said casing, an access opening terminating short of its front end, said platform being slotted inwardly from its rear edge and adjacent opposite sides thereof to provide an intermediate section and yieldable lingers spaced from said intermediate section, said intermediate section being provided with means to locate the blades thereon, and outwardly extending lugs on said fingers to enter the slots in the sidewalls of the casing.

3. A dispenser as set forth in claim 2, wherein projections are provided on the platform extending upwardly and downwardly therefrom to hold the platform spaced from the top and bottom walls of the casing said upwardly extending projections being blade locators to locate a blade on said platform.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 893,551 Schmidt July 14, 1908 1,271,078 Rabbe July 2, 1918 1,909,919 Testi May 16, 1933 1,989,516 Heppensall Ian. 29, 1935 2,352,113 Muros June 20, 1944 6 Stampleman Nov. 28, 1944 Auerbach Apr. 8, 1947 Auerbach Apr. 26, 1949 Schneider Aug. S, 1950 Mead Mar. 18, 1952 Brandt et al Apr. 14, 1953 Schnitzler Mar. 9, 1954 Schnitzler et al Oct. 26, 1954 I FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 27, 1908 Belgium Nov. 14, 1950 Belgium Aug. 14, 1952 France Nov. 2, 1943 

